COBALT-BLUE: A Fast and Accurate Model for Gravitational Self-Lensing Binary Systems

Our new paper, led by Danny Dixon, went up on the arXiv recently:

We present COBALT-BLUE, a fast public model for the optical light curve of a luminous star in a non-accreting binary with a compact object. The model includes gravitational self-lensing, Doppler beaming, ellipsoidal variations, eccentric orbital geometry, and wavelength-dependent limb darkening. In sufficiently edge-on systems, it predicts sharp periodic self-lensing flares together with phase-locked orbital modulation outside the flare.

It has been submitted to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and is currently undergoing peer review.